Woodrow Wilson Quotes

O sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone.

Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?

Every revolution, bloody or not, has two phases. The first phase is defined by the struggle for freedom, the second by the struggle for power and revenge on the votaries of the ancien regime.

Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.

Now in the whole of Europe there are only two parties: France for the freedom of peoples against all the rulers, and all the monarchs against France for despotism and old traditions.

The Soviets, where ten percent of the population controls the entire public by dictatorship. This will certainly not last long, in light of the historical dialectic

The removal of a tyrant is not merely justifiable; it is the highest duty of every true revolutionist.

A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.

Throughout the history of mankind there have been murderers and tyrants; and while it may seem momentarily that they have the upper hand, they have always fallen. Always.

The worst of tyrants, an usurping crowd.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

Whoever triumphs, the result of the present upheaval will doubtless be to keep the yoke of militarism as firmly as ever on the neck of the people of China. As Europe has learned to its sorrow, it is possible to win the war and lose the peace, so China is beginning to understand that that blessed word democracy does not mean peace, and that prosperity and order are not necessary corollaries of a successful revolution and a republican form of government.

Citizens, we have reason to fear that the Revolution, like Saturn, will successively devour all its children, and only produce despotism and the calamities which accompany it.

The tree of liberty could not grow were it not watered with the blood of tyrants

They (tyrants) should be attacked, not as ordinary enemies, but as assassins and rebellious brigands. Kings, aristocrats, tyrants, whoever they may be, are slaves in revolt against the sovereign of the land, who is the human race, and against the legislator of the Universe, who is Nature.

Instead of contributing to the restoration of liberty they enlist of their own free will under the flag of the Spanish tyrants and most actively co-operate to our destruction

The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.

No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand…. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.

Why does every nation on earth move to change their conditions except us [Arabs]. Why do we always submit to the batons of the rulers and their repression. How long will Arabs wait for foreign saviors?

In the long run even the most despotic governments with all their brutality and cruelty are no match for ideas. Eventually the ideology that has won the support of the majority will prevail and cut the ground from under the tyrants feet. Then the oppressed many will rise in rebellion and overthrow their masters.

Revolutions of state, many times, make way for new institutions and forms; and often determine in either setting up some tyranny at home, or bringing in some conquest from abroad.

The more brutal the dictator, the harder to oust.

One must not forget, however, that Russia had to free herself from the most frightful mis-government ever inflicted upon a long-suffering people.

Everything is arranged for the regents, magistrates, and the constituted powers; nothing for the liberty of the people. Everything disposed against rebellion and nothing against aristocracy. Everything against popular movements; nothing against the efforts of tyrants.

Sometimes overturning brutal regimes takes time and costs lives. I wish it weren't so. I really, really do.